


Dreaming of Someone

by whiteraven1606



Series: Three [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dreams and Nightmares, Dreamsharing, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-OT3, Recovery, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 00:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5688211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteraven1606/pseuds/whiteraven1606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe's dreams used to be much less stressful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreaming of Someone

**Author's Note:**

> Post-movie from here on, so this and the rest of the series will have the canon divergence tag.

****

Poe dreamed. He hated dreaming since, well, since. The dreamscape wasn't X-Wing battles, races, and his family like it had always been. Now it was a space hanger almost too big to believe, the floor was his base's normal landing area, but was strewn with crippled and dead ships, and pilots. He stepped through the wreckage gingerly as BB-8 sat near the forcefield keeping them from space, beeping worriedly.

Outside the forcefield, on a floating dune of Jakku stood Rey with a staff. He lingered at the forcefield for a while watching her stand and watch the empty starfield around them. He didn't remember ever seeing her with a staff. Wasn't that odd?

From behind him there was noise. Poe turned and blinked at Finn stumbling his way through the wreckage with a blue lightsaber lit up in his hand.

"Finn?"

Finn didn't notice him as he turned around and around. "Poe? Poe!"

Poe tried to move closer, but the hanger bay seemed to grow a column of TIE fighters at a time. Soon there was an entire fleet of hanger between him and Finn, but he could still hear Finn. Poe's yelling didn't seem to register with Finn at all.

Poe spun back around when he heard BB-8 start to beep frantically. The dune Rey was standing on was eroding away into space from under her feet. She turned her head just once and flashed him a sad expression before fading away.

BB-8 smacked against the forcefield before turning and barreling towards Poe, beeping high and frantic for Poe to save Rey. He turned to get one of the TIE fighters to go look for her, but they were gone. He stared. It was all gone.

He looked down and he was back in the torture chamber. Back with _him_ baring down on him. Back with so much _pain_.

Poe bolted straight up in his bunk. "Kriff." He blinked rapidly as BB-8 beeped low and worriedly at him about proper sleep schedules for humans. "Can't help it, Buddy. I had a nightmare." He swung his legs over the side of his bunk and rubbed the sides of BB-8 with his feet until the droid moved away towards the door. "My thoughts exactly. Let me put on some pants."

The walk to Medical was quiet and the nightshift droid didn't fuss after BB-8 had a short talk with him. Poe settled beside Finn's bed and traced the air over Finn's ear with his fingers. He sat back and propped his hand on his chin.

BB-8 rolled close and told him that Finn needed a better sleep schedule as well. Poe ran his finger across BB-8's dome near the antenna attachment.

"Comas don't count as normal sleeping, Buddy. Finn will wake up when he can. We just have to wait it out. Like that time we had to wait on that part for you that took a couple of weeks."

BB-8 told him to pay for rush waking up of Finn.

"I would if I could." Poe patted BB-8's dome and leaned against the wall. "Watch out for intruders, okay, Buddy?"

He smiled as BB-8 gave him a trilling whistle of affirmation before letting himself go back to sleep.

****

Poe stared around at the rows and rows of Stormtroopers. "What the hell kind of dream is this?"

They were standing stock still around him, none of them moving even when he waved his hand in front of the helmet of one. Poe wandered through the endless rows, looking for differences, for a door, for anything that wasn't just more troopers.

He heard crying. Poe turned, listening until he decided the sound was _that way_. He hurried along the rows until he found a small trooper. Shorter and crying softly. Poe eased down in front of the, _child_ trooper.

"Hey there."

The crying cut off.

Poe eased his hands forward and rested them on the trooper's small helmet. "I'm going to take this off. We're in a dream so no one can hurt you here, alright?"

The little helmet nodded so Poe lifted the helmet up and off. The tiny child was Finn how Poe imagined he'd been at age seven or nine, maybe. Small at any rate.

"Hi." Poe smiled at him.

The child sniffled and looked confused. "What's that?"

"What?" Poe checked behind him, but no, still endless troopers that were ignoring them. He turned back. "What were you asking about?"

The child reached out and touched the edge of Poe's mouth. "What's that...look you had?"

Poe blinked. "Oh. I smiled."

The child's face scrunched up in confusion. "What's smiled mean?"

The troopers around them started to move. Poe stood, grabbed up the child trooper, and hurried down the line of troopers. Behind them in a huge wave troopers were chasing them.

Poe wished hard for a door and a maybe a weapon. "Really could use a blast door right about now."

The child trooper started picking off the chasing troopers with his tiny blaster.

"I didn't figure your weapon would even work."

The child hit another trooper and Poe grimaced as the helmet came off to reveal a dead Finn underneath as he fell. "It'd be stupid to train with a non-functioning weapon."

"Sure." Poe's eyes widened as a blast door came into view. Open and everything. "Hang on."

They slid through it on a suddenly slick floor. Poe hit the controls and the doors clanged shut leaving them in a First Order corridor with dead Finns strewn about. Poe let the child down and leaned against the wall.

"I really don't like this dream any better than the last one."

The child trooper kicked one of the dead Finns. "I have it all the time. Usually this is Slip though. Wonder when the rathtars are going to show up."

Poe turned horrified eyes on the child. "Rathtars. I don't want to dream about rathtars."

The child trooper looked up at him. "Wake up then. I'll stay. I can't leave anyone behind. I'm suppose to, but I _can't_." 

Poe desperately wanted to both wake up and stay asleep all at the same time.

There was a clang on the far blast door. They both moved towards it as it clanged again.

"Rathtars?"

The child trooper shook his head. "No, it's her again. She keeps showing up now. Slip dies, my uniform goes wrong, and then she shows up and grabs my hand."

"She?" Poe moved closer to the blast door that was clanging every few seconds now.

"She's cute. I like her." The child trooper kicked another dead Finn before looking up at him. "You're new."

Poe blinked. "I'm...new?" He frowned as something invisible bumped his leg. "I've never had this dream before that I remember."

The child trooper turned and stared at the wall. "I shouldn't form an emotional attachment. I don't want to be reconditioned. I don't want to be left behind."

Poe started to kneel down to tell the child anything to get that sad determined expression off his little face, but a horrible noise Poe was deeply terrified of sounded through the wall.

"Oh, never mind. Everyone dies when the rathtars come." The child trooper picked up a helmet from one of the dead Finns with a bloody handprint on it and put it on. It looked completely ridiculous and utterly disheartening all at the same time. He turned to face the wall and squared his tiny shoulders.

Poe tried to grab for him, but the world dissolved under his fingers.

Poe started awake as the medical droid bumped his leg again, trying to get past him to check a monitor. Poe moved his leg out of the droid's way as he scrubbed as his face with both hands. "Okay. No having that dream again."

BB-8 beeped at him from the far side of the room.

"I'm fine, Buddy. Just had a weird dream." Poe patted Finn's unwounded shoulder. "We'll be back later today, Finn." He stood and stretched. He grinned at BB-8 as his spine popped in a couple of places. "We could just about talk with my spine's popping, huh, Buddy?"

BB-8 made a rude noise and rolled off.

Poe smiled as he followed, trying to shake off the thought of a child Finn facing down rathtars.

****

Poe dropped to sit among the squad as they fell silent. "Morning."

Pava poked him in the arm with the handle of her fork. "You look like a bantha ran you over, Dameron."

"Thanks for that lovely image as I try to eat."

She grinned at him before drawing her eyebrows in. "Not kidding, Black Leader."

Poe propped his head on his hand as he eat absentmindedly. "I'm sorry I don't meet up with your exaggerated expectations."

Snap leaned forward and dumped an extra biscuit onto Poe's plate. "You really do look bad."

Poe sighed. "Had a rough night. Weird dreams."

"Hmm." Pava chewed a mouthful of food while staring at him.

"I hate when you do that."

"I know." She made a gesture towards the ceiling. "Think the girl will come back?"

It took Poe a moment to realize Pava meant Rey. "She's a grown up, Pava, but yes, I think she'll come back." He tiredly watched Pava and Snap exchange looks. "What?"

"You can't be..." Snap shook his head. "Never mind. You'll figure it out."

Poe frowned at him. "Figure what out?"

Pava patted his forearm. "Nothing pressing. I think you sort of need the grown up girl here to help with the figuring, but you'll get there. I have faith in you."

Poe sighed deep and concentrated on his food. He was too tired and certainly not awake enough for this. 

He listened to his people talk about how he was off rotation while he worked his way through his food. They didn't call it grounded unless you weren't flying because you'd screwed up. He was just exhausted and...fragile. He didn't like it, but that's what it was, and he knew the General could see it just like his squad.

He really needed some sleep that didn't involve dreaming.

****

Poe's no dream plan involved exhausting himself during the day by running errands for anyone that needed one. It wasn't flying, but at least he could do something that he figured wouldn't get him yelled at. As he turned the corner of the corridor to Command near the end of third shift he revised that estimation in his head.

The General was standing part way down the hallway staring at him with her hands on her hips. He was in deep, deep trouble if her hands were on her hips.

"General." 

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I distinctly remember telling you that you were off rotation."

"Yes, ma'a...General. That's why I haven't been near the starfighters all day."

"Uh huh. Did I say off flight rotation? No, no, I did not. I distinctly remember saying rotation, you blasted Nerf-herder." She took ahold of his elbow and next thing Poe knew he was in a chair in her sitting room. "Stay there." 

He did as he was told while she puttered around for a few minutes before putting a bowl of stew down in front of him. "I ate lunch and dinner."

"Don't fuss at me."

"Yes, General." He took the stew and watched her as she sat down across from him with a steaming cup in one hand and a spoon in the other hand. "Why are you feeding me?"

"I'm testing something with your help." She made no move to hand him the spoon.

He frowned and sniffed the stew. "You have a certain reputation as to cooking, General."

She snorted. "Of course I do. Han hated that I hated cooking things. Rumors were usually his revenge for pranking him. I cook just fine, Poe."

He sniffed the stew again. "This smells...different?"

She cocked her head. "You know what Force-sensitive means, don't you?"

"Yes." He frowned at her and looked down at the stew. "What does it do?"

"Do? Nothing particularly special. It'll make you harder for a Force-sensitive person to hear or find. It won't harm you and it wears off in just a few hours."

Poe narrowed his eyes as he stirred the stew. "Why are you giving it to me? I'm not that Force-sensitive."

She smiled that soft smile she reserved for when someone was being extremely dense. "I woke up with a sense of extreme terror and an echo of a rathtar scream in my head this morning. I haven't had that sort of crap happen since Luke decided to slink away."

Poe sat the bowl down. "I...can't do that...stuff. No way."

She sat down her cup and the spoon and covered his hands with her own. "Poe, I'm not going to make you do anything. There's a reason the stew is still too hot to eat."

Nodding, Poe let her pull his hands a little towards her. "So we'd have time to talk, right."

"Yes." She put his hands together between her hands. "You weren't the person dreaming this morning."

"I had to be..." Poe blinked and forced himself to take deep breaths. "He was so little."

The General cupped his hands and put the bowl back in them. "It'll wear off by morning. We need to see if he is going to wonder into someone else's head or just yours."

Poe looked at her. "Why'd you hear it?"

She patted his hand as she put the spoon in the bowl. "I was hovering. I can't do Force related things at a distance unless it is very emotional for me personally."

Poe blinked as he stared down at the stew. "I don't want him hurt."

"Neither do I, Poe."

Poe ate the stew as quickly as he could force himself to swallow.

****

Poe woke the next morning and stared at his ceiling until BB-8 rolled near and beeped a question. "I'm fine." Poe sat up and rubbed at the back of his head. He felt rested and exhausted all together. He hadn't even known that was possible. He listened to BB-8 beeping at him. "Yeah, I figured she'd want to see me. I'll be right there. Just have to find pants and a clean shirt."

Poe waved to a couple of his remaining squad as he hurried across the base to the General. He made a mental note to eat lunch or evening meal with them. Maybe try to wheedle out of them whatever they'd been avoiding explaining yesterday morning. He tugged his shirt down into place as C-3PO announced him. The General beckoned him in behind C-3PO's back.

Poe settled into the same chair again and watched quietly as the General shooed C-3PO out. She leaned against the door as soon as it closed. "Tough morning, General?"

She rolled her eyes as she came across to sit down near him. "Did you dream?"

"No." Poe frowned at her. "BB-8 reported that the nightshift medical droid said that Finn's readings dipped for several hours, but have returned to stable this morning."

"Yes. No more stew for you." She leaned forward and rested her forearms on her thighs. "Poe, if you'd rather we move one of you until Luke gets here..."

"No, no. I can handle..." Poe sighed. "General, if Finn is dreaming about being a tiny Stormtrooper with rathtars eating everyone, I'd really rather be the one dreaming with him. I'm a lucid dreamer enough to at least get us blast doors. That's better than nothing."

She frowned. "I don't want either of you to be as terrified as yesterday morning, Poe."

"Can the medics wake him?"

The General shook her head. "No, no, they can't." She poked his knee. "Are you certain you want to do this?"

"I'll be fine." Poe licked his lips. "I am fine. He needs someone and I'm off _every_ rotation last I knew."

She huffed. "Alright. I want you to sleep out of his range at least part of the time. You need to rest too."

Poe nodded. "I'll work it out, General."

She patted his knee. "If I sense terror I'm dumping cold water on you both, understood?"

"Understood."

****

Poe settled on the cot they'd set against the wall next to Finn's bed. "I'll be fine, Buddy."

BB-8 gave a mournful whistle and looked towards the door.

"We'll sleep at home during the day. I have to help Finn tonight, alright?"

BB-8 beeped at him before starting to patrol.

"That's right, Buddy. You keep the intruders out and I'll protect our coat thief."

****

Poe started out the dream in his new weird hybrid hanger slash landing zone. He looked around and saw BB-8 near the forcefield keeping them from the deep dark of space. Poe picked his way around the burnt out X-Wings to get to BB-8. "Hey, Buddy."

BB-8 whirred and beeped and leaned to look around Poe's leg.

He turned and there was Finn with the lightsaber again. Adult and in the jacket Poe had given him. That was something he needed to remember to work on, the real world jacket wasn't near as shiny as the one inside the dream. Poe moved closer to Finn.

"Poe?"

Poe positioned himself in front of Finn. "Finn, can you see me?"

Finn turned in a slow circle. "Poe!"

Poe sighed. "Right, not working." He concentrated on the kid trooper. He needed to help the kid. He turned slightly away from Finn to look over the expanse of the hanger. Outside in the void of space was that dune of Jakku again. Rey with a staff, and he still didn't know why the staff, standing on it. "Uh. Rey!"

She turned her head and smiled at him.

Poe reached out to Finn while watching Rey smile. "She lights up when she smiles." He grabbed Finn's arm and started trying to drag Finn towards Rey.

The dream shifted and Poe huffed as he was suddenly in a First Order corridor junction next to an open blast door. He peeked out and stared at the huge crowd of Stormtroopers chasing the kid trooper towards him.

"Come on!"

The kid skidded into the corridor and Poe slammed the controls to close the blast doors. "Thanks."

They stared at each other for a minute or eternity. Poe sort of hated dream timesense.

"Are you alright?"

The kid blinked. "I lost my helmet. I'll get docked rations." He turned as suddenly the floor was littered with downed Stormtroopers. "They always know when you do or don't do something. I miss being under the height bar."

"Height bar?"

The kid stared at him like he was a particularly weird alien. "Yeah? You know, when you go from Phase One training to Phase Two."

Poe knelt down and looked over one of the troopers on the floor. He wasn't Finn, but he wasn't anyone really. His face was indistinct in that dream way that both bothered and didn't bother Poe. "What's the difference?"

The kid stomped over to him and poked him in the shoulder. "What do you mean what's the difference?"

Poe stood and looked over the corridor. It was the same T shape from the last dream. He headed for the door that had been clanging last time. "I'm not a Stormtrooper. I don't know the differences unless you tell me."

"Uh." The kid followed him. "I suppose the biggest difference is we can't help anyone keep up now." He frowned down at his tiny blaster in his hands. "The thing I miss most is being allowed to hold hands."

Poe blinked. "Yeah? Is that something you liked? Holding hands?"

"It was the only allowed touch that didn't get rations docked." He looked up at Poe. "I'm supposed to want the weak to fall so the First Order will be strong."

Poe knocked on the blast door with his knuckles and raised his eyebrows as the door clanged like he'd beaten on it with the butt of a blaster. "And you think that's not right?"

The upper part of the kid's trooper armor shifted suddenly to Poe's jacket with all the tears and burns that it had come back with when Finn had been whisked off the _Falcon_. The kid looked down at it and sighed. "Oh, it's gone wrong again. The rathtars will be next."

The blast door clanged.

Poe grinned and held out his hand to the kid. "Maybe no rathtars. Come with me?"

The kid smiled slowly, in increments like he'd never done it before. He took Poe's hand and gripped the blaster tighter in his other hand. "And go where?"

Poe smacked the control to open the blast door. "I have no idea actually." The door opened to blinding light and Poe didn't even hesitate before he pulled the kid into the light along with him.

Poe bolted upright on the cot and leaned into the wall beside it as he tried to catch his breath. "BB-8?"

BB-8 whirred and rolled over to him.

"How's Finn's readings?" Poe nodded as BB-8 relayed what little changes had happened. "So, no worse, but no better either?"

BB-8 trilled and leaned against the cot's edge.

"I'm fine, Buddy. Just had to dream hard is all." Poe scrubbed his hand through his hair. He needed to clean up. "Come on. I have a jacket to fix up and then we'll go back to our quarters for while, hmm?"

With a happy trilling beep, BB-8 lead the way.

Behind them, a medical droid made a note of the improved hormone levels in the comatose patient.

****


End file.
